eNewsHound

There’s something about the nature of fame that makes people want to be near it, sometimes even more so once that celebrity is gone.  Because of that, in Los Angeles, even cemeteries are famous, such as Forest Lawn, but if you were to ask most people where a movie star, such as Marilyn Monroe, has found her final resting place, they couldn’t tell you.  What about Dean Martin?  Or Natilie Wood?  Or Roy Orbison, to name just a few.  Many writers, producers, movie stars, directors, and comedians have all finally come to a spot so hidden, so exclusive, that literally you could spend years in L.A. and never know you were so close.  For the first ten years I lived in this town, I would walk by, even attend movies at local theaters and not know that if I crossed a side street, walked down an alley beside a parking garage, to my right, I would find memorials for much of Hollywood.  It’s almost as if it’s one of the town’s best kept secrets.  But if you want to pay your respects to these lives who captivated us on the screen and page, then follow these simple directions.

First, go to Westwood, almost to the intersection of Westwood and Wilshire, at the beginning of Westwood Village, next to UCLA.  A short distance south of Wilshire, you’ll find on the east side of the street, the Majestic Crest theater, a magnificent independently run old movie palace.  Behind the theater, there’s a side street.  On the east side of that street, there will be a parking garage.  On the north side of the garage, there’s an alley.  Pull into the alley and drive past the parking garage (or walk in; there’s not a lot of space for cars in this small memorial park), and the gates will be to your right: You’ve found the Pierce Bros Westside Village Memorial Park.

The next time you’ve arrived in Hollywood, and you’ve checked into a fine Los Angeles cheap hotel, and are looking for a way to spend an afternoon, but not spending money, taking a walk by the markers and memorials of great writers and stars of the past may make for an unforgettable time.  It’s not for everyone, of course.  But you’ll find a trip there could well be surprising as well as humbling, and  even amusing.   Among the notables, including Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Eve Arden, Eva Gabor, Truman Capote, Cornel Wilde, and Donna Reed, the late comedian Rodney Dangerfield has written on his tombstone, “There Goes the Neighborhood.”